Bandelier National Monument Superintendent Brad Traver announced the temporary display of school projects completed by Chamisa Elementary fourth-graders following a fall field trip to Bandelier National Monument.

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Chamisa Elementary School fourth-graders in Dana Kline’s class hold up the work they created while participating in Bandelier National Monument’s educational program. The students’ work is on temporary display at Bandelier.

“Dana Kline, fourth-grade social studies teacher, used Bandelier-created curriculum to prepare the children for their trip to the Monument,” Traver said. “They made timelines and learned about the Ancestral Pueblo people who first lived in Frijoles Canyon.”

“When the students returned to the classroom after their field trip, they were motivated to write and draw about their experience there,” Kline said. “These students are such wonderful writers and artists that I wanted to share their beautiful ideas and drawings with the Monument and the public. For me, it is a delight and very meaningful to educate children in the outdoors about the natural environment and cultural history of New Mexico, and how important National Parks and Monuments are.” Kline is a former archaeologist and National Park Ranger.

“We encourage all teachers to visit our website and to utilize the teaching resources that we have developed,” Lynne Dominy, Bandelier’s chief of interpretation, said. “We have fire ecology resources, an Ancestral Pueblo teaching module, alphabet pages for very young kids, and many junior ranger materials. We are very pleased that Kline used our curriculum guide to enhance her classroom teaching and to prepare her students for an educational visit to the park. Her class was the first group to earn our new patches as Junior Anthropologists for their classroom efforts.”

Chamisa’s fourth grade writing and art is on display in the visitor center at Bandelier through early January 2009.

For more information regarding Bandelier’s education program call 672-3861 ext.517 or visit www.nps.gov/band.